There are now seven billion people on the planet, roughly half of whom are women.

Recent statistics indicate the one in three women will be raped or beaten during her lifetime. Even by low estimates, we are facing a worldwide epidemic of Violence Against Women (VAW) that will affect—no, devastate—one billion of our mothers, daughters and sisters.

For every woman beaten, a woman is rising up against such brutality. For every Jyoti there is a Rita out on the streets chanting “no more!”

Eve Ensler and V-DAY have launched a massive international campaign entitled One Billion Rising. Inspired by, and in sisterhood with, the wave of protests raging across South Asia today, One Billion Rising is part of the global reaction to Violence Against Women.

This February 14th, 2013, one billion of us will rise up in towns and cities around the world. People like you and me, coming together to show our support for a different kind of world.

To begin with, the ultimate fact everyone needs to understand: Women are indestructible.

For every woman killed by the fist, stone or pyre, countless women wake up, stand up and join the movement to end violence against women. Every senseless death breeds a thousand new warriors for change.

They may be able to separate us individually, and attack us on the streets, in our homes and in the courtroom, but once united, we form a force more powerful than rape which cannot be defeated.

“The rape of the earth and rape of women are intimately linked, both metaphorically in shaping our worldviews and materially in shaping women’s everyday lives.”

As an activist focused on the human rights of women and girls in war zones, I have seen more than my share of the destruction caused by rape and state-sponsored violence against women. In fact, I have been made sick by it.

One thing I learned from my sisters in the Congo—where nearly every woman I met had been raped—is that once the stigma is erased, once enough women have been ravaged and left for dead, what’s left behind is courage, intelligence and an unbreakable, rising strength.

We rise with a primal scream that roars, “You are going to have to kill every last one of us to keep us quiet!”

And what happens when every last woman is gone?

Mankind’s future is wholly dependent on womankind and our wombs. By attacking women and raping little girls (you know who you are, and now I’m speaking to you), you only add fuel to our firefight; you multiply our armies for justice and security; you amplify our collective furor.

The only end game I can see is either, we win and violence against women ends—or we die trying.

Either way, you lose! Checkmate, rapist!

When I’m feeling distraught and consumed with grief from yet another gang rape on a bus, I turn instead to the stories of everyday heroines out there. These are the women waking up every day, putting on their armor and taking on the Goliath that is violence against women.

Women like those of La Ruta Pacifica in Colombia, whose groundbreaking direct actions join campesino, black, indigenous and urban women in massive mobilizations or “rutas,” held in locations controlled by armed groups who specifically target women.

Or heroines like Radhia Nasraoui of Tunisia, who has spent more than 30 years standing up for increased legal protections for women, despite being consistently harassed, threatened and beaten.

These women, and thousands like them, are leading us out of this violent nightmare. Inspired by their will, their steadfast vision and their immense courage, I am motivated to rise up too.

Although I am in the relative safety of my home in the United States, women are being raped and abused in record numbers all around me. That sad fact should infect you and take up host in your brain, like a parasite—as it has in mine—until you can’t help but get off the couch and join us in doing something about it.

This Valentine’s Day, instead of honoring the women you love with cancer-causing sweets or environment-destroying greeting cards, do something revolutionary!

Join us to add your voice to the Global Movement To End Violence Against Women. Just by showing up at an event, you are altering the course of history and making our numbers greater. If you can’t get to an event, at the very least, sign this petition to tell the leaders of the world that Violence Against Women is deplorable, and demand change now!

One Billion Rising is:

1. A global strike.

2. An invitation to dance.

3. A call to men and women to refuse to participate in the status quo until rape and rape culture ends.

4. An act of solidarity, demonstrating to women the commonality of their struggles and their power in numbers.

5. A refusal to accept violence against women and girls as a given.

6. A new time and a new way of being.

We may not be able to win every battle, but together we will win this war, in solidarity.

Local Boulder Events:

2. One Billion Rising Boulder, February 14th, 3:30-5:30pm, Avalon Ballroom, 6185 Arapahoe Road, Boulder CO 80301. Mark Gerzon will host a World Café to talk about how we can work together to be agents of change for ending violence against women; Melissa Michaels will be leading a community dance. The organizers promise it’s going to be insightful, uplifting and revolutionary!

4. Be the Love: Divine Snuggle Party, February 14th, 7:00pm, Adi Shakti Kundalini Yoga Center, 2014 Pearl St Boulder, CO 80302. Give the gift of you and your divine love in community with others who like to snuggle, cuddle and connect…and do it for a special cause. We are committed to creating the type of world we want to see. A world where women and men can be themselves and feel safe to give and receive affection without fear of harm, expectation or judgment. So when we heard about the movement One Billion Rising, we felt compelled to join forces and take action. What better way than to snuggle?

Kiri Westby has been working in war zones on human rights policy for women and girls for more than a decade. She is also a dedicated activist for Tibetan Freedom, a new mom and a practicing Buddhist. Her writing has also been featured on huffingtonpost.com, care2.com, intent.com and vividlife.me. She is currently working on her first book.

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[…] Writing this in the aftermath of a particularly brutal gang rape in Delhi, for me it seems really important to say this: Sexual violence is not just about rape. It isn’t only in the act of penetration that we are humiliated and helpless. It is in the assumption of the husband that the wife will wait on him. It is is the assumption of the brother that the sister will do the dishes. The demand of your parents that you don’t go out too late, and don’t edge towards certain parts of the town. The professor who tells you that you were molested because of the length of your skirt. The man who believes its his right to be sexual with his partner even if she says “no”. The heterosexual male who believes it’s okay for women to be gay but not men. […]